Well i took my time to set gtr2 up "thisnameistaken" Decent setups and controller config gives it a good feeling imo, which is just that though, my opinion. I didn't say it was good coz it had "real" cars, i like it for it's overall playability - there's no denying it's popular.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

The only problem I have with Steam is that it's... pointless. Why do we have to start this pointless interface each time we want to run a game? Wouldn't it make more sense to free up as much resources as possible before you run the most resource-hungry programs you have installed?

Even that Steam would seem to have heavy looking interface, it doesn't actually eat much resources. Mem usage is only 7-8 b when it's minimized to the tray, even my firewall eats twice as that.

I agree that it's pain in the ass to start everytime you want to play. I don't understand why it doesn't have better user control options, would be nice to disable any kind of automatic updating in the starting. And of course the reason why Steam needs to be run before the game is that it needs to validate the game.

But resistance is futile, in the future Steam like system will only get more popular. If you want to blame something, game piracy would be the first thing to blame.

Decided to buy it today since steam now allow paypal transfers and I was incredibly bored and I have to say. I like it.

Ok so it's not ground breaking in anyway, but it's a solid game. And most of all it's fun, which is what games should be.

what can I say... some bugs aside (not too many, and they aren't that annoying either) this game is awesome!! had some excellent races online tonight, and as it's the first few days of this game people are still getting used to it, can't wait for a month or so time when everyone's used to it.... that's when the real racing will begin!!

I can't get the hang of Macau though, I gave up with it and learned Valencia instead

I personally think steam is great. I think I can live with 8MB's of memory gone when I can buy, download and run a game in under an hour without moving.

Maybe I'm just lazy..Or strange.

I like steam, its lovely, especially because it does auto-updates and stuff.

I like the benifits purchasing a game through Steam gives you - it saves me an hours drive each way to the nearest Gamestation, and it saves a few quid (£23 vs £30). Payment by Paypal directly followed by an instant download from a high speed server is nice as well, as is the automatic game updating. But I hate how its necessary to run in the background and the resources it uses. In my book its not as bad as starforce protection but its damned annoying.

The game itself..I like it. Its not as fluid or dynamic as LFS, nor is it as good an online game in many aspects (as far as I can tell there's no way to change you car once connected, no connection list, no ability to share setups ingame, no message history, no way to block messages, no way to have names displayed over the cars, you get the idea), but for the most part the netcode is good and keeps the cars in sync allowing for close racing. You can't join a host mid-race either which is damned annoying, would have thought you should be able to join the host but spectate till the race is over. The loading times are massive compared to LFS as well.

Its hard to judge if it has a natural, connected feeling like LFS does, because i'm on a worn out MS Sidewinder non-FF till my G25 replacement arrives. But the cars respond how you would expect, the RWD can oversteer without the instant spinout Simbin stuff normally has. Pullaways aren't just floor it, and the brakes lock up quite realistically. Doesn't feel as floaty as GTR2, and the damage is something I sorely wish LFS had now - splitters that will come off, tyre punctures, windscreen chips, etc. Its not just cosmetic, damage does affect the way the car handles & drives, sometimes to the point you can't continue the race. Definately fun but not in quite the same way as LFS.

The cockpits, although very pretty, have a MASSIVE fps hit. In cockpit view driving down a road with a couple of cars in view, I get 30-40fps, in the bonnet view, its 70fps+. On a full grid with cockpit ~20fps for a few secs, without its ~30fps. Big big difference. But without the cockpit view I can't figure out how to turn a damned virtual mirror on.

Is a nice looking game though, not as hard on my system as the demo was - I have everything maxed out and my machine isn't exactly the best you can buy. And the tracks are nice - a pleasant break from the LFS ones, Macau in particular is a fun drive with a 20 car grid.

Quote from Rtsbasic :

no message history

I know it's an annoying way of going about it, but from the pit menu click chat. and it should be in there.

Quote from Rtsbasic :

no way to have names displayed over the cars.

there is. you have to assign a key to it. I can't remember what it's called, but look down the controller assignments and you'll find it.

I was playing this game online most of last night from about 9pm until 1am... had loads of good fun racing, everyone's a bit noobish at the minute so I had the occasional shove up the arse, but after all the 'newness' has worn off and people get used to it, this game has HUGE potential online!

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Well that's 7-8Mb that could be not running Steam. I turn my firewall off when I'm gaming.

Eh, I don't know do you have NAT or hardware firewall but do you also like to leave your appartment doors unlocked when you leave home?

Quote from mr_x :

I know it's an annoying way of going about it, but from the pit menu click chat. and it should be in there.


there is. you have to assign a key to it. I can't remember what it's called, but look down the controller assignments and you'll find it.

I was playing this game online most of last night from about 9pm until 1am... had loads of good fun racing, everyone's a bit noobish at the minute so I had the occasional shove up the arse, but after all the 'newness' has worn off and people get used to it, this game has HUGE potential online!

Aye I noticed the chat menu thingy this morning, pretty useful but still a pain you can't do more without pitting.

Been playing it the last couple of hours, definately potential there, its not on the same sim level as LFS but its still good fun. Just wish there were more people online, seems theres normally 3-4 packed servers that you can't join because its in a race, and everyone else is on passworded ones.

Just had my first crash (as in, whole game crashes, not an ingame accident), just before the race start. Oh well.

Please tell me that no content has to be unlocked like in GTL... I think that is the most infuriating concept around...

So should I spend £25 of my hard earned cash on this game, as an alternative to LFS that I can go online and enjoy racing with my mates...obviously without the great physics...but are the physics as bad as GTR?

Its isi which in my.. and many others opinion is flawed regarding physics, no matter what game or mod you try.. Stuff seems to go wrong at the core of things..

Quote from creativesurgeon :

Please tell me that no content has to be unlocked like in GTL... I think that is the most infuriating concept around...

The first thing I did after installing GTL and noticing this 'feature' was googling for a cheat to unlock everything. Took just a few minutes.

Vain

They really locked up a lot of stuff in this game, and the physics is really tuned down, if it isn't worse, it's just par but no better than the Simbin title before, dunno if you can get rid of some aids in the plr file, but seems the potential of the physics engine is pretty much on a plateau.

me awaits macau conversion for GTL, much prefer the atmosphere of classic touring cars on such a circuit.

The dx9 doesnt work on all puters even if they have dx9 cards. beware, its simbin code, aka noobs fresh out of school exploited overseas.
Good luck finding a computer where it can run (i have 2 here and none worked, even thought one managed to get to menus and get a corrupted frame every 3secs, like so many report in rsc).
Sim niche market doesnt need this corporate mediocrity saturating the small market every 3 or 4 months with the latest isi based regurgitated crap. thanks for nothing mr roos.

Yes kid you hate anything that isn't LFS. We know, thanks.

This game is fun and I haven't regretted buying it. No major bugs, it looks nice. Sound is a bit nasty on some cars but I'll live with it.

Makes for some good close racing too which is what alot of people are after. Prefer it to GTR2 anyway, something about that game didn't feel right to me.

Edit : Rts, kid says this about every sim that's released. So.. probably better off to ignore it.

Every 3-4 months? How many Simbin titles are there, 4? GTR1/2, GTL, Race. "Good luck finding a computer where it can run", are you just shit stirring out of fanboyism or do you really believe that? Runs spot on here and obviously does for a large number of people or there wouldn't be anyone racing online, which is not the case.

Oh change the bleeding record KiD

As much as I love LFS and its community, I have to admit to liking Race to get a feeling for my G25. It's heaps of fun driving the AI. Sure its physics are sub-par when you're used to LFS, but they are not Codemasters bad either. I wouldn't play this for more than a few months, I think, but at the moment its a welcome change from spinning the FZR at AS4 trying to heel-toe

this game is good- fun to race real race cars, and nice to look- big FPS hit in some corners, (3.4P4)
maybe i dshould get more ram than 1.5g
anyway
it is fun adn the sound is good, no LFS for physics but the Ai is good.
It is a sinch to beat in semi pro...
anyway nice title from simbin a little improvement over GTL in terms of saving an oversteer anyway
good work SimBin Sverige
Reminds me of Mercedes Benz Race trucks in terms of racing and Ai-

Downloaded on Steam last night - can't wait to get home after work. Even skipping the obligitory pint...!

I like the people on RSC complaining about the sounds, I think it sounds great... but then again I have gone to it from LFS, which I think we can all agree sounds bad!

I still really like RACE, the AI is good fun to race against and online it's a blast!

Simbin have released 3 small patches so far to fix the big bugs in the game, but those I've never noticed, all I've seen bugs wise is small things that are annoying, but not the end of the world.

It's definately the best game on the ISI engine so far, the cars (minus BMW) actually feel like they are FWD cars! and it has to be said, the netcode is superb! I'm yet to experience any lag or warping, even with players who have pings of 150ms

There are many bug in Macue.....

Quote from scania :

There are many bug in Macue.....

its based on the 2005 layout. anyway, having never been anwhere near or ever driven macau on my life, its a fantastic race track, dont let like a misplaced wall spoil your enjoyment. its a fantastic track.